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Robinson LM, Martínez M, Leverett KL, Rossettie MS, Wilson BJ, Brosnan SF. Anything for a cheerio: Brown capuchins (Sapajus [Cebus] apella) consistently coordinate in an Assurance Game for unequal payoffs. Am J Primatol 2021; 83:e23321. [PMID: 34435690 DOI: 10.1002/ajp.23321] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2021] [Revised: 07/06/2021] [Accepted: 08/03/2021] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
Unequal outcomes disrupt cooperation in some situations, but this has not been tested in the context of coordination in economic games. To explore this, we tested brown capuchins (Sapajus [Cebus] apella) on a manual version of the Stag Hunt (or Assurance) Game, in which individuals sequentially chose between two options, Stag or Hare, and were rewarded according to their choices and that of their partner. Typically, coordination on Stag results in an equal highest payout, whereas coordinating on Hare results in a guaranteed equal but lower payoff and uncoordinated play results in the lowest payoff when playing Stag. We varied this structure such that one capuchin received double the rewards for the coordinated Stag outcome; thus, it was still both animals' best option, but no longer equally rewarding. Despite the inequality, capuchins coordinated on Stag in 78% of trials, and neither payoff structure nor their partner's choice impacted their decision. Additionally, there was no relationship between self-scratching, a measure of stress in capuchins, and choices. After completing the study, we discovered our reward, cheerios, was sufficiently valuable that in another study, capuchins never refused it, so post hoc we repeated the study using a lower value reward, banana flavored pellets. Capuchins completed only 26% of the pellet trials (compared to 98% with cheerios), constraining our ability to interpret the results, but nonetheless the monkeys showed a decrease in preference for Stag, particularly when they received fewer rewards for the coordinated Stag outcome. These results reinforce capuchins' ability to find coordinated outcomes in the Stag Hunt game, but more work is needed to determine whether the monkeys did not mind the inequality or were unwilling to sacrifice a highly preferred food to rectify it. In either case, researchers should carefully consider the impact of their chosen rewards on subjects' choices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lauren M Robinson
- Department of Interdisciplinary Life Sciences, Domestication Lab, Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Vienna, Austria.,Departments of Psychology, Philosophy & Neuroscience, Language Research Center, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
| | - Mayte Martínez
- Department of Interdisciplinary Life Sciences, Domestication Lab, Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Vienna, Austria.,Departments of Psychology, Philosophy & Neuroscience, Language Research Center, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
| | - Kelly L Leverett
- Departments of Psychology, Philosophy & Neuroscience, Language Research Center, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
| | - Mattea S Rossettie
- Departments of Psychology, Philosophy & Neuroscience, Language Research Center, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
| | - Bart J Wilson
- Economic Science Institute, Smith Institute for Political Economy and Philosophy, Chapman University, Orange, California, USA
| | - Sarah F Brosnan
- Departments of Psychology, Philosophy & Neuroscience, Language Research Center, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.,Departments of Psychology and Philosophy, Neuroscience Institute, Center for Behavioral Neuroscience, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
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De Petrillo F, Rosati AG. Variation in primate decision-making under uncertainty and the roots of human economic behaviour. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2021; 376:20190671. [PMID: 33423637 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0671] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Uncertainty is a ubiquitous component of human economic behaviour, yet people can vary in their preferences for risk across populations, individuals and different points in time. As uncertainty also characterizes many aspects of animal decision-making, comparative research can help evaluate different potential mechanisms that generate this variation, including the role of biological differences or maturational change versus cultural learning, as well as identify human-unique components of economic decision-making. Here, we examine decision-making under risk across non-human primates, our closest relatives. We first review theoretical approaches and current methods for understanding decision-making in animals. We then assess the current evidence for variation in animal preferences between species and populations, between individuals based on personality, sex and age, and finally, between different contexts and individual states. We then use these primate data to evaluate the processes that can shape human decision-making strategies and identify the primate foundations of human economic behaviour. This article is part of the theme issue 'Existence and prevalence of economic behaviours among non-human primates'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francesca De Petrillo
- Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, Toulouse, Occitanie, France.,Unità di Primatologia Cognitiva e Centro Primati, Istituto di Scienze e Tecnologie della Cognizione, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Roma, Lazio, Italy.,Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Alexandra G Rosati
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.,Department of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
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Addessi E, Beran MJ, Bourgeois-Gironde S, Brosnan SF, Leca JB. Are the roots of human economic systems shared with non-human primates? Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2019; 109:1-15. [PMID: 31874185 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.12.026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2019] [Revised: 11/14/2019] [Accepted: 12/16/2019] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
We review and analyze evidence for an evolutionary rooting of human economic behaviors and organization in non-human primates. Rather than focusing on the direct application of economic models that a priori account for animal decision behavior, we adopt an inductive definition of economic behavior in terms of the contribution of individual cognitive capacities to the provision of resources within an exchange structure. We spell out to what extent non-human primates' individual and strategic decision behaviors are shared with humans. We focus on the ability to trade, through barter or token-mediated exchanges, as a landmark of an economic system among members of the same species. It is an open question why only humans have reached a high level of economic sophistication. While primates have many of the necessary cognitive abilities (symbolic and computational) in isolation, one plausible issue we identify is the limits in exerting cognitive control to combine several sources of information. The difference between human and non-human primates' economies might well then be in degree rather than kind.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elsa Addessi
- ISTC-CNR, Via Ulisse Aldrovandi 16/b, 00197, Rome, Italy
| | - Michael J Beran
- Department of Psychology Georgia State University P.O. Box 5010 Atlanta, GA 30302-5010, USA; Language Research Center, The Neuroscience Institute, Georgia State University, PO Box 5010, Atlanta, GA 30302-5010, USA
| | - Sacha Bourgeois-Gironde
- Institut Jean Nicod, Département d'études cognitives, ENS, EHESS, CNRS, PSL University, UMR 8129, 29 rue d'Ulm, 75005 Paris, France.
| | - Sarah F Brosnan
- Department of Psychology Georgia State University P.O. Box 5010 Atlanta, GA 30302-5010, USA; Language Research Center, The Neuroscience Institute, Georgia State University, PO Box 5010, Atlanta, GA 30302-5010, USA; The Center for Behavioral Neuroscience, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Jean-Baptiste Leca
- Department of Psychology, University of Lethbridge Lethbridge, Alberta, T1K 3M4, Canada
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Zoratto F, Oddi G, Gori E, Micucci A, De Petrillo F, Paglieri F, Adriani W, Laviola G, Addessi E. Social modulation of risky decision-making in rats (Rattus norvegicus) and tufted capuchin monkeys (Sapajus spp.). Behav Brain Res 2018; 347:37-48. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2018.02.033] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2017] [Revised: 02/17/2018] [Accepted: 02/22/2018] [Indexed: 01/25/2023]
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